DIY Kitchen Design Hacks On-A-Budget, Kitchen Design Guide

Whether you’re a homeowner or you’re renting your place, it always pays to know the best DIY Kitchen Design ideas. But why specifically DIY design ideas for your kitchen? It’s because apart from your living room and bedroom, the kitchen is where you and people you care for spend a lot of time.

The kitchen is no longer purely utilitarian or functional these days. It has gradually evolved into a place where entertaining can be done, aside from the living room, and if you have extra space for it, the den.

It’s important that the interiors of your place look presentable and inviting or friendly as well. If budget is a constraint, you will surely enjoy some of the best affordable kitchen designs for DIY enthusiasts presented below.

DIY Kitchen Design ~ Basic Do-It-Yourself Kitchen Design Tips

Planning for your DIY kitchen design is the first step you need to do. To have the ideal plan possible for your situation, consider the following basic criteria: How much kitchen space do you have? Dimensions can vary a lot from residence to residence. Apartment and condo dwellers often have less space for their kitchens than homeowners do, though there are exceptions.

DIY Kitchen Design Red and White Kitchen Decorating Ideas

Kitchen design tip #1: Planning

Use precision measurements while you are still in the planning stage.

Never “guesstimate” or draw up random measurements from thin air, or purely based on what you see. Remember, unless you have measured it and noted down the details, you do not actually know how big or small your kitchen is, and how much leeway you have for coming up with a design that’s good for your existing space.

Find the clutter spots

What is creating clutter or a feeling of being cramped in your kitchen? Clutter is always an enemy of good design, because clutter takes up space and degrades the appearance of your kitchen.

Do a visual inventory of the objects that are in your kitchen, both big and small. Every appliance, as well as every container, needs to be evaluated. Do you have a huge dishwasher? Is it in a recessed space, or is it sticking out like a sore thumb, blocking foot traffic?

Is your pantry a part of your shelf system? How many jars of spices can you see? Do you actually use all of those spices, or have they been gathering dust or cluttering up your counter or shelves for a long time?

Questions such as those mentioned may seem trivial, but if you get down to it, you will see that anything contributing to cluttering up your kitchen space has to be changed or renovated, or even removed.

Kitchen design tip #2: Visualize Your Dream

Strategize in your mind. Visualize how you would like your kitchen to look, in the most orderly way. Doing so will strengthen the design you are making, although the details are still in your thoughts.

What room elements do you want to include? Room elements include such things as walls, doors, windows, electricity sources, gas pipes, and ventilation. Sometimes, all or any of these can be overlooked in the design because you are so used to seeing them, that your mind and eyes will simply gloss them over. That shouldn’t be the case though, if you want to come up with the most satisfactory solution to your design concerns.

Kitchen design Rustic Country Style Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchen design tip #3: Consider Room Elements

Avoid considering room elements as fixed or permanent. Do your best to explore possibilities. If a door is awkwardly situated, for example, such that you need to avoid a kitchen island first before foot traffic can proceed smoothly, evaluate if you can move the door. If you cannot do that, then you would have to think of moving the island.

How many of your kitchen design elements are portable and how many are fixed? Your countertop, cooking area, and wash-up area are vital elements of your kitchen design. Is your countertop movable? If yes, imagine which part of the kitchen you can move it to, for both space and aesthetic considerations.

What about your cooking and wash-up area? Are they fixed in place, which is typical of most kitchen designs? If you move your cooking range, will you still have an easy time accessing the preparation area, or would you need to increase walking back and forth for access, which would be an inconvenience?

Kitchen design tip #4: Kitchen Design Elements

Similar to analyzing the current position of your room elements, you also need to analyze your current kitchen design elements. Identify what exactly you don’t want with the current kitchen layout, but also identify what you like about it. Doing so will give you more options in your mind, from which you can choose more freely.

At the onset, decide whether you want to go for a coordinated look, or a mixed and matched look. Both are perfectly okay, everything depends on your personal taste.

Once you have answered the basic questions you need to ask yourself about your kitchen layout, space considerations, room elements, and design elements, it’s time to place your ideas in visual form.

So far, everything has just been done in your mind. That step is necessary to increase your use of your creativity. But once you have a general idea of what you want your kitchen to look like, then it’s time to commit to your idea.

Kitchen design tip #5: Draw or Sketch Your Ideas

If you know how to draw, or you can ask someone to draw your ideas for you, well and good! However, if an illustrated guide is not possible, you can take pictures or photographs instead.

Print out your photos and mark the places where you want certain design changes to take place. Use arrows and “X marks the spot” indicators to identify the changes you initially plan to do. Give short tags or labels such as “fridge here” or “move microwave here” to serve as a refresher guide when you will be actually executing your kitchen design.

At this point, it’s necessary to note that so far, what has been discussed relates to an existing layout or set-up.

If you are still in the process of coming up with a kitchen design plan for a house that is still being built, then you will have more opportunities to come up with various design scenarios, since everything is simply a blank slate.

DIY Kitchen Design Hacks On-A-Budget

To summarize, here are the things you will need to consider:

General kitchen planning, including visualizing the final look.

Coming up with a kitchen floor plan style, based on what kitchen furnitures and appliances you have and want to retain, as well as on the foot traffic and amount of area usability that you need.

Determining locations for all kitchen storage objects, and deciding whether your storage cabinets will be built-in or modular (portable).

Putting your design on paper or in photographs.

Canvassing for materials, or sourcing them elsewhere (your excess materials in storage, asking from friends, or buying from flea markets or garage sales).

DIY Kitchen Interior Décor and Design Tips

Your kitchen décor and design speak a lot about your personality. From your choice of colors, to the placement of both your room and design elements, and even your choice of materials – others who step into your kitchen can pick up much information about what you are like, and what you like, based on what they see.

People make judgments based on visual input primarily; therefore, it’s always in your best interest to keep the following tips for kitchen décor and design in mind.

Choosing kitchen colors

Are you going for a monochromatic look? Or would you prefer contrast hues and tones in your kitchen all the way? People associate certain colors with certain personality traits, or even lifestyles.

A preponderance of red or shades of red in the kitchen can communicate the idea that the kitchen owner is passionate, or assertive, or eager to take the lead. Red communicates a strong sense of being truly involved in life and living.

Many green tones in the kitchen can make the owner appear laid-back, friendly, environmentally conscious, and neat.

Predominantly white or silver kitchens connote cleanliness and a love of order on the part of the owner.

Traditional interpretations of color are commonly accepted, so it’s easy to see why your color choices should play a prominent role in your kitchen décor and design ideas.

Choose your kitchen colors in advance, so you will not experience wastage of paint or regret later. Again, visualizing is a big help. It’s also good to window shop for color combinations first before making a selection, as that will save you a lot of time and money.

Consider the kitchen ambiance

Your kitchen can have a busy or quiet feel. It can project a hip image, such as when you go for a minimalist look.

Your kitchen ambiance, or the character of your kitchen, can be determined by the presence of items that help to define its nature.

For example, if you are targeting a sleek, white kitchen look for a classic ambiance, white marble would look good for your dining tabletop.

But if you have a limited budget, then you don’t need to use expensive marble.

Instead, you can use a white resin table top, which also looks rich and smooth, for a classic feel. Another substitute for expensive white marble can be a white laminate table top.

For kitchen décor, you have a choice between blending the décor with your overall kitchen ambiance, or contrasting the décor, for greater effect.

Classic white kitchen

In the example given for a classic, white kitchen, you can have a traditional wooden wall clock also painted in white with silver lines for a blended effect. If you prefer contrast, you can have a more modern industrial clock in a shade of silver or gray with bold and darker color outlines.

The basic thing to remember about ambiance is that you need to be comfortable with the image or feel that your kitchen communicates. If you are uneasy about your kitchen’s ambiance, it’s a given that people who visit your kitchen will most likely feel uneasy too. Choose the feel of your kitchen carefully.

Consider freestanding pieces

If you lack space for putting more cabinets, you can use freestanding pieces to act as small movable cabinets. They also blend well with most kitchen designs because of their size.

Freestanding pieces can also be used as décor in themselves. Maximize their usability and visual appeal by putting small appliances such as a toaster on them, along with a small vase of flowers on top, or even a spice rack.

Backsplash statement

When considering what kind of kitchen décor would go best with your overall kitchen design, avoid neglecting the backsplash.

Although the backsplash is mostly regarded in a functional capacity, it can actually add meaning to your kitchen design. Rather than thinking of it as a drab or nondescript item, your backsplash can act as a special kind of décor that can deliver various statements.

Checkered backsplashes connote playfulness, while transparent backsplashes with a solid color veneer do much to connote stability and refinement.

Small accents

Other ways to use décors to brighten or enliven your kitchen area would be to use small accent pieces.

These can come in the form of small vases or figurines that can be placed on shelves attached to a wall.

Cookbooks, when strategically placed on floating shelves, can also function as decorative items.

Small potted herbs on a window sill can break the monotony of seeing a long line of cabinets or shelves.

Even simple splashes of color or shapes such as zigzags and non-symmetrical parallel lines can accentuate a plain looking wall, for a more interesting design.

And how about other diverse décors such as small, chandelier type lights? There are many affordable chandeliers in various stores, but if you’d rather not use them, you can try hanging lamps suspended at different heights, or pendants and industrial lights.

Be creative with kitchen decor

The key takeaway for DIY kitchen décor and design is to make sure that your creativity is your only limit. Do not be boxed-in by outmoded beliefs, for example, that it’s not pleasing to the eyes to mix colors or to even use bold colors in the kitchen, because such colors are supposedly not good for digestion.

Remember, the kitchen is not just for cooking or eating anymore. As an alternative place to use for entertaining, it needs to communicate a friendly feel.

When it comes to décors and design, listen to what your inner self is saying. Please yourself first, then, pleasing others can come naturally as a result.

How to Design Your Own Custom Look

In designing your own custom look, you need to consider the ways by which your kitchen is currently used, and how you expect it to be used after renovation.

The easiest way to do this would be to make categorized lists that connect with one another.

Who uses the space

For example, for the first category in your list, you can write down the people who use or will use your kitchen. This would include you and the people you live with, along with your friends and other visitors.

How do they use the space

For your second category, you can list down the ways that your kitchen users make use of, or will make use of your kitchen. Not all users use the kitchen in the same way.

Young people may use the kitchen to do their homework. If you are comfortable with this, you can keep this fact in mind and work around this purpose. For example, you can keep the island clutter-free and near the refrigerator and pantry, so that snacks are within easy reach.

Others only use the kitchen for reheating food or doing small chores such as brewing coffee or making tea. For people like these, keep in mind that easy ingress and egress to and from your kitchen and the dining area or the living room area is essential.

Think of the kitchen for socializing

The kitchen can also be a socializing area, a place where catching up and small talk happens between friends and family members. The matter needing consideration for this would be how airy the kitchen is, because a stuffy kitchen is not conducive at all to simple socializing. Also, the less cramped your kitchen is, the better for all who use it as a place for socializing.

Your kitchen can also function as a place where communication with the outside world takes place. If you or anyone else in your household regularly uses the kitchen to sort your mail, go over the latest news traditionally (through newspapers and electronic media) or digitally (via the internet), you’d have to make provisions for whatever it is they do.

Kitchen reading nook

For those more inclined to read the newspapers or magazines, a small rack for reading materials discreetly placed in a corner would be good. And for those who prefer to surf online, electric plugs and sufficient space for using a laptop would be great.

Don’t also forget where you may need to place your landline, for people who would rather stay in the kitchen while talking to friends or other people who not in the house. Even with the proliferation of mobile phones, it is still a good idea to have a nook or small spot on a counter, or a place on the wall, where a landline phone can be mounted unobtrusively.

Food prep area

And of course, there is the main activity of food preparation. Are you a casual cook, an accomplished cuisine master, or a weekend chef? Whatever your lifestyle choice for food preparation needs to be reflected in your overall kitchen design.

The more frequently you use your kitchen for preparing food, and the longer time you need to prepare and even cook, the more space you will be requiring. Plan around this fact accordingly.

Planning for usage more than cooking

Planning usage in this detailed way will help you save a lot of money, since you will be able to see right away if you need to reserve a budget for additional items such as a magazine rack, or if you have a workaround it (such as building your own rack from scrap materials you may already have).

For your other categories, visualize, then list down how much space would be needed by all the activities you listed down earlier. Next, focus on your use of lighting and your use of the views from and to your kitchen.

If you are keen on keeping your privacy levels high, make sure that your doorways in and out of your kitchen do not expose too much of the interiors. If moving the doorways will be too expensive, consider the use of blinds of small curtains.

Design Hacks for Your Own Custom Look

On the other hand, if your kitchen looks out to your yard where children play, then it is a must to have an unimpeded view from your kitchen. The view may come either from a window situated directly above your kitchen sink, or your food preparation area.

Kitchen lighting concerns

As for the lighting conditions, not every part of your kitchen has to be well lit. The brightest lights need to be placed where minute details need to be executed, as in the food preparation area.

For areas where socialization takes place in your kitchen, for example, the spot where you and your family members chat, then your lights may need to have provisions for dimmers.

Consider the cabinets

Finally, you may need to decide if you will go for custom made designs of cabinets that you will do from scratch, or if you will simply renovate existing cabinets using paint or wood polishing.

If you do custom made cabinets on your own, there will be greater expenses, compared to a simple renovation. However, making your own custom cabinets are still much cheaper, compared to buying ready-made ones from the furniture shops.

In any case, another alternative would be to go to secondhand or thrift shops and choose from the selections there. You would likely have to clean and do repairs on any purchases made there, but again, doing so is much cheaper compared to buying from a furniture shop. Going to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a great resource for cabinets and other kitchen fixtures as well.

Designing a kitchen with the big picture in mind

Whether your kitchen is for one person or seven, you really need a kitchen that is functional not only for yourself, but for others who play significant roles in your life.

The thing to remember is this – when pressed for ideas on how to get the look that best reflects you and your life, always consider the details of how your daily life goes. Think of small routines that make up a huge part of your life, and which ordinarily take place in the kitchen.

By doing so, you will be able to arrive at the design, which immediately shows that the look is all about you and how you relate to yourself and other people.

Easy Ways to Transform Your Kitchen

Finding an easier way to do things is always great, because you can save a lot of time, money, and effort.

Transforming your kitchen would be best done in the least complicated manner possible. Typically, if you have two goals of improving usability, while still keeping aesthetics in mind, you would want to combine both goals into one to make things easier.

You can start transforming your kitchen by evaluating the so-called “triangle.”

Your kitchen triangle

The triangle refers to the points of movement to get to and from the sink, the refrigerator, and the stove.

These three items are the most essential in any modern kitchen.

That is why easy access to them should be a priority when you are still planning to transform the look of your kitchen. Consider this important fact when planning your renovation. No matter what changes you implement, easy access within the kitchen triangle is best kept preserved.

DIY kitchen walls

Next, evaluate your kitchen walls. How sturdy are they? Do they already need to be replaced? Or, if they are already damaged in some way, would it be better to simply knock down the walls, to give the illusion of bigger space?

The placement of your walls is one of the biggest factors you need to consider when transforming your kitchen, as your walls do not merely serve to enclose your kitchen area. Walls, by themselves, can function as huge accent pieces too, depending on what color or design they have, and what accessories are placed on them.

DIY kitchen floors

The next thing to do would be to evaluate your flooring. Is it scraped or scratched beyond repair? Or is the damage (if any) salvageable by using some affordable wax for the floor?

If your flooring still looks good and is functional (no chips or other damage that could result in trips and falls, or other accidents), it would better not to replace it. You may consider using some throw rugs or small carpet pieces instead, to accentuate your floor design.

If your floor is already heavily stained or discolored, however, it would be best to replace it. If a complete re-tiling or replacement of the wooden planks is not possible due to budget constraints, you may want to consider vinyl, linoleum or even smoothened cement for its surface finish.

While it is true that vinyl and linoleum are not as classy looking as wood flooring or ceramic or porcelain tiles for your floor, they can still be good and affordable choices, as these tiles usually come in many interesting designs and colors.

When not to use vinyl or linoleum in the kitchen

Note, however, that the use of vinyl and/or linoleum tiles are not recommended if any of the following apply to your household:

Young children are present or live with you. Children, by nature, have a fondness for running and going in and out of the house frequently. Such activities can damage linoleum tiles over time.

You live in an area that may be prone to above street-level floods, especially after it rains. Unless you live in a raised ground area, or a high level area such as a condominium, some degree of flooding has to be prepared for, due to recent fluctuations in extreme weather conditions.

Your lifestyle involves the moving of heavy equipment or machinery to and from your house. Different occupations bring different demands on the flooring of a house. The kitchen is the typical choice of ingress and egress for machinery or equipment such as sand blasters or welding machines. These machinery or equipment can scratch the floor when brought in or out of the house.

Kitchen desing hacks acceptable and affordable flooring alternative

Barring the options mentioned above, however, vinyl and/or linoleum tiles would be an acceptable and affordable flooring alternative for those on a budget.

DIY kitchen storage space

Next, consider your cabinets and shelves. Insufficient storage spaces can result in unsightly clutter. Too many cabinets and shelves can substantially reduce both actual and visual space.

Determine what is taking up space in your kitchen

As a workaround, and to save money and effort, make an inventory of items you typically store in cabinets and shelves. Are those items essential to your kitchen? Or are they, like old plastic containers which you have not used for more than a year, simply taking up space?

The easy rule for creating space without changing the presence or arrangement of existing objects is to give away or otherwise dispose of any items you have not used for more than a year or so.

Don’t feel bad about losing such articles. They couldn’t have been that important in your life if you had not used them at all for such a long time.

Next, check the interiors of the cabinet doors. Determine if you can still hang small wire brackets or wire containers for added space. Making use of the interiors of cabinet doors is a good option when you are pressed for space, and your budget precludes making more cabinets or storage objects.

DIY kitchen paint

Finally, consider new coats of paint. Your kitchen can look drab and dreary with faded paint. If you use wallpaper, and the material has crack and tears, it would be best to replace them.

A little DIY hard work spent on painting goes a long way. New coats of paint can greatly brighten up a room (this also depends on your paint color of choice, however) and make the kitchen seem brand new.

If your budget is truly tight, your best bet, and the most basic, as far as a transformative design is concerned, would be fresh paint coats.

On the other hand, if new coats of paint are still not affordable at the moment, consider the next best alternative: light and breezy curtains with small prints of anything you want (typically, prints of small animals, plants, close-ups of flowers, or other nature shots are preferred by many) to brighten up your kitchen and transform its overall appearance.

Avoid heavy drapes, they will only drag your kitchen ambiance down.

Unique Space Saving Design Ideas

When space is a primary consideration, along with a limited budget, remodelling, redesigning, or renovating can be tricky.

However, it does not mean that it will be impossible.

Here are some ways you can save space in your kitchen, or at least give the impression that your kitchen is roomier than it actually is.

Choose your lights carefully.

Professional renovators know the importance of well-placed lighting to increase space perception. Bright, warm lights tend to give the feeling of expansiveness. In contrast, dim and cold lights tend to compress an area, making it more intimate. Make your choice and combinations of lights strategic.

Using light to make areas look larger

For areas that you want to look bigger in your kitchen, use bright, warm lights. Do the reverse for areas that you want to appear tighter or smaller.

Be aware of the effect of certain colors. As explained earlier, different colors come with different effects, or can arouse different emotions in people. Perception is not just not visual, it is often emotionally-triggered. This applies most when you are trying to convince or motivate someone about certain looks or designs. If you want your kitchen to save on space and look expansive, choose white or other light, pastel tones for your paint and accents.

Maximize the use of vertical space. When storage objects are big and tall, you can make the most use of available space. Portable and modular units are ideal for this purpose, as you can easily move your storage pieces around for greater flexibility, when it comes to your layout and design.

Meanwhile, built-in storage also serves the purpose of conserving space. Their only drawback, though, is that you have to plan your design around them. However, if they are not obtrusive or in the way, they shouldn’t pose too much of an accessibility concern.

Avoid grouping bulky small appliances in one space of the countertop. Your microwave, for example, does not have to rest flat on the countertop. Unlike your toaster and coffee maker, for example, your microwave can be suspended on braces and still be functional.

Be flexible in your choice of cabinets or storage spaces. As much as possible, going for the most variety when it comes to purpose and storage capacity is still the best, as this gives you more freedom to decide what to use, and how.

Variant cabinets

Examples of variant cabinet storage designs include the following:

Cabinets with non-pull out drawers

Cabinets with pull out drawers

Cabinets with open shelves

Cabinets with doors and shelves

Crafty Tips and Tricks for Your Kitchen

Crafty Tips and Tricks for Your Kitchen

If you want to add some pizzazz to your kitchen design and decorations but need to operate on a tight budget, these crafty tips and tricks may just turn the tide in your favor: Do not set limits on your creativity because you allow something or someone else to overrule your decisions. For example, do not feel bad if you cannot follow a trend. For one thing, following a trend usually entails a lot of expense. For another, a trend is called a trend, because it is temporary.

More than anything else, it is important to believe in yourself and enjoy your creativity while engaging in DIY kitchen designs.

Top ideas for DIY kitchen on a budget

Creativity involves seeing things from a different perspective. For example, ordinary corkboard is simply often regarded as material for posting notes on, a bulletin board, so to speak. But with a little DIY creativity, a corkboard can become personalized coasters, a corkboard map for accent, or even hanging frames for small kitchen stuff such as keys, small can openers, bottle openers and the like.

Use fabrics with prints that connote a specific feel. For example, if you are going for a country ambiance, you can use affordable plaids or fabrics with nature prints for your seat covers, your hand driers, or your curtains.

Evolve away from using plain, solid colors for your cabinets. Shapes, such as zig zags or diamonds, painted on cabinets add aesthetic value.

Do not be afraid to veer away from what has been tried and tested. If you feel that monochromatic colors are too plain and uninspiring, go for some mix and match or contrast colors, by all means. If you have a lot of wood in your kitchen, shake things up a bit by putting silver painted borders or molding. Small metallic accents also look great to accentuate the beauty of wood.

More DIY kitchen tips

Remember your doorknobs. While they are admittedly a small part of your overall kitchen design, they can still be made to stand out. Either get some cheap aged doorknobs from flea markets and polish them, so their age stands out in contrast with your redesigned kitchen, or put small accents such as solid color on the knobs to set them off.

If you have never tried using window valances, now may be a good time to do so. A window or curtain valance covers the uppermost part of your window. They can be hung on their own, paired or contrasted with your curtains, or paired or contrasted with your window blinds. Valances can be easily sewn if you are so inclined and won’t cost an arm and a leg. Valances also add a sweet, yet somewhat playful look to a kitchen, provided you avoid using heavy materials.

Use mirrors with decorated borders or frames. Mirrors serve the added purpose of visually tricking the mind about there being more space than their actually is. However, most mirrors look drab in their frames. You can remedy this by making happy or playful designs on the borders or frames of the mirror, or by putting on small accents such as ribbons on the corners.

DIY Kitchen Design Hacks

At its simplest, the easiest kitchen design hacks you can do on your own, both to save space, and to increase aesthetic appeal, while being mindful of budget constraints would be either of these two selections:

Use a Corridor Layout or Galley Kitchen design

Also known as the Galley kitchen design, the corridor layout focuses its attention to the kitchen triangle discussed earlier.

Kitchen triangle

The sink (wash-up and clean-up area), refrigerator (perishables storage), and the range/oven (cooking area) form the triangle, but instead of being positioned as an actual triangle, they are simply situated close to each other, although not necessarily side by side . The sink can come in between the fridge and the range.

This arrangement conserves space and makes each of the three major items in the kitchen accessible, thus also conserving time and effort.

Maximizes space for foot traffic

A corridor layout also maximizes the availability of space for foot traffic, and increases maneuverability, because no huge items are in the way.

Visually appealing

Finally, a corridor layout also makes for a neat appearance, increasing visual appeal.

If you have other bulky items such as a dishwasher, try to see if you can make it occupy a recessed nook. Place it near to the wash-up and clean-up area, to conserve time and effort.

Maximize counter space

By using a Galley design, you can also optimize the availability of counter space, even for small kitchen areas.

You won’t also spend much on redesigning, because a corridor layout is the most basic kitchen layouts and designs possible.

L-Shaped Layout in the Kitchen

Use an L-shaped layout. This kind of layout would be better suited for kitchen areas that have somewhat bigger space, compared to that available for corridor type layouts.

With an L-shaped layout, you can arrange your sink, refrigerator, and range/oven in a linear or in a consecutive, side by side manner.

This arrangement gives you more counter space, but can also limit maneuverability, especially if you also have an island to begin with.

To save on space and make provide more room for foot traffic, make your island double as a breakfast nook or an extra countertop, as needed.

Always keep in mind the huge importance of flow and continuity of movement in your kitchen. Remember that it is one of the areas in your house with the most amount of foot traffic and the most frequency in terms of being occupied.

Plan for those two considerations, and you will never get lost in your design.

DIY Kitchen Design Budget

DIY Kitchen Design Budget Tips

The following tips can help you to make the best use of your budget for kitchen design, especially if you are designing and executing the design on your own.

Top DIY tips:

Existing and Stored Materials. Not all materials for your design need to be brand-new. You may have small usable pieces of wood hidden in your garage. You may also not need to buy nails and screws anymore. Make an inventory of any available loose ends you may have hidden in your work area or garage, and proceed from there.

Neighborhood or Community Sourcing. If you have cordial relationships with your neighbors, you may want to explore the possibility of asking them for any excess material or kitchen furnishing. “Excess” means something they have no intention of using anymore, or objects and materials which they may have also hidden and do not use.

Garage Sales. Somebody’s idea of junk may be exactly what you need to arrive at the design you want. Don’t belittle the idea of having garage sale items in your kitchen. After all, when you have cleaned and done small renovations on the items, like a set of sturdy dining chairs that only needed some hammering to keep the backs and legs solid, you’ll be pleased to discover in the end how much you have saved.

Re-use and Recycle. You may have items in storage that can no longer serve their original purpose, but would still be useful if you recycle them. For example, you can recycle some types of curtains, especially those of a heavier material, as seat covers.

On the other hand, re-using old objects that you cannot bear to part with, such as picture frames for accent pieces, would be a good idea to keep your kitchen looking lively. Simply repaint the frames with another color, to provide contrast or blend it in, as desired.

Make it your own DIY kitchen design

None of the suggested tips for your DIY kitchen design are set in stone. As the kitchen owner, you are free to add to, or modify the tips provided, particularly when a tip you a partial to, will make a dent in your budget. Keep in mind that your kitchen design is about you and what you want. That’s the main guideline or the best tip you need to keep in mind before, during, and after doing any changes, for you to be pleased with the results.